Poor Sleep Affects Aging After Menopause
Poor sleep is one of the most common complaints of women in perimenopause and menopause. And poor sleep is not only cause of tiredness. It also contributes to high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, brain fog and the subject of this article–aging.
In a separate study from UCLA, Judith Carroll published an article in the journal Biological Psychiatry. Menopausal women who did not get enough sleep to feel rested, woke up tired, got up multiple times at night, had difficulty falling asleep and waking up too early all had evidence of increased cellular aging.
The Menopause Symptoms–Aging Connection
These two studies explain a lot about how menopause affects aging. Hot flashes, waking up to pee, restless sleep due to anxiety or depression are much more than inconveniences–they are contributing to aging at a faster rate. So toughing out menopause symptoms is not a good idea. Yet today, roughly 70% of women receive no treatment for their menopause symptoms and only about 5% of menopausal women are taking estrogen. Finding the right treatment for you is very important and is why talking with someone to understand the benefits and risks of each treatment option is not a luxury–it’s essential.
That is particularly true for women who enter menopause at a younger age as the first study above shows. For instance, a 42 year old women who enters menopause and does not take estrogen would biologically be a full year older at age 50 than a different 50-year-old woman who continued to produce estrogen and entered menopause naturally at age 50 because of low estrogen’s affect on cell aging.
As explained in easy-to-understand language in the best-selling book The Estrogen Fix, not taking estrogen can also contribute to thinning of the bones and osteoporosis and an increased risk of heart disease.
The Bottom Line
Menopause is not about age; it’s about transition. But untreated menopause symptoms can speed up aging. And treatment of menopause symptoms may slow down the aging process. If you would like to discover if menopause coaching will help you in your menopause journey, visit MenopauseCoaching.com.